The present invention relates to a flameless thermal oxidizer configured for flameless thermal oxidation at optimized equivalence ratios, and a method of flameless thermal oxidation at optimized equivalence ratios.
Many industries, such as the chemical, pharmaceutical, oil refinery, power utility, and electronic industry react chemicals at high temperatures, for example about 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The terms “react” or “reaction” refer to any endothermic or exothermic chemical reaction, such as the vaporization, synthesis, oxidation, or reduction of a chemical. Chemicals and fume streams may be safely destroyed through oxidation. Thermal oxidation is a process whereby solvents and other hydrocarbons combine with oxygen to form water and carbon dioxide. The products of reaction from the original mixture of solvents/hydrocarbons can thereafter be safely discharged to the atmosphere.
One type of apparatus that can be used to facilitate thermal oxidation is a flameless thermal oxidizer (FTO). The reaction is referred to as ‘flameless’ because the FTO permits the reaction of the process gas stream to occur in the absence of a flame. The flameless thermal oxidizer may be utilized, for example, to treat organic vent gases released from organic synthesis reactors and similar hydrocarbon off-gas control applications. Flameless thermal oxidizers are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,540 to McAdams et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In the interests of efficiency and/or safety, there exists a need to further develop and improve FTO's to facilitate a substantially complete oxidization reaction of a fume stream with reduced risk of flashback, while reducing operational costs and/or improving the available capacity of the vessel.